Act II takes place three months later. _Charlotte_ and _Albert_ are
man and wife. _Albert_ knows that _Werther_ loves his wife but trusts him. _Charlotte_ begs _Werther_ not to try to see her again until Christmas day.
In Act III _Charlotte_ is at home alone. Her thoughts are with _Werther_ and she wonders how she could have sent him away. Suddenly _Werther_ returns and there is a passionate love scene. When _Werther_ has gone _Albert_ enters, and notices his wife's agitation. A servant brings a note from _Werther_ saying that he is about to go on a long journey and asking _Albert_ to lend him his pistols. _Charlotte_ has a horrible presentiment and hastily follows the servant.
In Act IV _Charlotte_ finds _Werther_ dying in his apartments. He is made happy by her confession that she has loved him from the moment when she first saw him.
HÉRODIADE
Massenet's "Hérodiade," with a libretto by Paul Milliet, had its first performance in New York at the Manhattan Opera House, November, 1908, with Lina Cavalieri, Jeanne Gerville-Réache, Charles Dalmorès, and Maurice Renaud in the principal rôles. The scene is Jerusalem and the first act shows _Herod's_ palace. _Salome_ does not know that she is the daughter of _Herodias_, for she was mysteriously separated from her mother in childhood. With a caravan of Jewish merchants, who bring gifts to _Herod_, she comes to Jerusalem in search of her mother. She tells _Phanuel_, a young philosopher, that she wishes to return to the _Prophet_ who had been kind to her in the desert.
As she leaves _Herod_ enters, notices her, and is aroused by her beauty. He calls upon her to return. But instead _Herodias_ enters demanding _John's_ head for he has publicly called her Jezebel. _Herod_ refuses. _John_ appears and continues his denunciation. The royal couple flee. _Salome_ returns and falls at _John's_ feet confessing her love.
_Herod_ in vain seeks to put the thought of _Salome_ from him. _Herodias_, mad with jealousy, consults the astrologer _Phanuel_ who tells her that her daughter is her rival.
In the temple _Herod_ offers his love to _Salome_, who repulses him crying: "I love another who is mightier than Cæsar, stronger than any hero." In his fury _Herod_ orders both _Salome_ and _John_, who has been seized and put in chains, delivered into the hands of the executioner. _John_ in his dungeon clasps _Salome_ in his arms.
In the last scene _Salome_ implores _Herodias_ to save _John_, but the executioner's sword is already bloodstained. _Salome_ snatches a dagger and rushes upon _Herodias_ who cries in terror, "Have mercy. I am your mother." "Then take back your blood and my life," cries _Salome_, turning the weapon upon herself.
SAPHO
Massenet's "Sapho," with a libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, based on Daudet's famous novel, was a complete failure in New York when it was sung for three performances in 1909. Its favourable reception in Paris, where it was produced at the Opéra Comique in 1897, was chiefly due to the vivid impersonation of Emma Calvé. The story concerns an artist's model who captivates an unsophisticated young man from the country and wrecks his life in attempting to rise above her past.
CLÉOPÂTRE
Opera by J. Massenet. Written for Lucy Arbell, the opera was produced by Raoul Gunsbourg, at Monte Carlo, in his season of 1914-15 with Marie Kousnezova in the title rôle. The first performance in America took place in Chicago, at the Auditorium, January 10, 1916, with the same singer. The first performance in New York was on January 23, 1919, with Miss Mary Garden as the Queen of Egypt and Alfred Maguénat, who created the rôle at Monte Carlo and in Chicago, as the _Marc Anthony_. The story is the traditional one.
LOUISE
A musical romance in four acts, libretto and music by Gustave Charpentier.
CHARACTERS
JULIEN _Tenor_ THE FATHER _Baritone_ LOUISE _Soprano_ THE MOTHER _Contralto_ IRMA _Soprano_
The opera was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, February 2, 1900. The part of _Louise_ was created by Miss Rioton, who then sang for the first time in an opera house; that of _Julien_ by Maréchal; that of the father by Fugère, and that of the mother by Mme. Deschamps-Jéhin.
The story is simple. _Louise_, a working girl, loves _Julien_, an artist. Her father puts no trust in an artist of irregular life, so _Louise_ leaves her family. The lovers are happy, but _Louise_ is remorseful. She grieves for her father and reproaches herself for ingratitude. Finally she returns home. But free forgiveness does not make up for the freedom she has lost. Paris the city of pleasure tempts her again, and again she succumbs. Her family realizes that she is for ever lost to the home.
Charpentier himself described his work to F. de Menil. When asked why he called his opera a musical romance, he replied: "Because in a romance there are two entirely distinct sides, the drama and the description, and in my 'Louise' I wish to treat these different sides. I have a descriptive part, composed of decoration, scenic surroundings, and a musical atmosphere in which my characters move; then I have the purely dramatic part, devoted wholly to the action. This is, therefore, a truly musical romance." When asked whether the work were naturalistic, realistic, or idealistic, he answered: "I have a horror of words that end in 'istic.' I am not a man of theories. 'Louise,' as everything that I do, was made by me instinctively. I leave to others, the dear critics, the care of disengaging the formulas and the tendencies of the work. I have wished simply to give on the stage that which I have given in concert; the lyric impression of the sensations that I reap in our beautiful, fairy-like modern life. Perhaps I see this as in a fever, but that is my right for the street intoxicates me. The essential point of the drama is the coming together, the clashing of two sentiments in the heart of _Louise_--love, which binds her to her family, to her father, the fear of leaving suffering behind her, and, on the other hand, the irresistible longing for liberty, pleasure, happiness, love, the cry of her being, which demands to live as she wishes. Passion will conquer because it is served by a prodigious and mysterious auxiliary, which has little by little breathed its dream into her young soul--Paris, the voluptuous city, the great city of light, pleasure, and joy, which calls her irresistibly towards an undaunted future."
SALAMMBÔ
Reyer's "Salammbô" received a gorgeous production at the Metropolitan Opera House on March 20, 1901, with the following cast: _Salammbô_, Lucienne Bréval; _Taanach_, Miss Carrie Bridewell; _Mathô_, Albert Saléza; _Shahabarim_, Mr. Salignac; _Narr'Havas_, Mr. Journet; _Spendius_, Mr. Sizes; _Giscon_, Mr. Gilibert; _Autharite_, Mr. Dufriche; _Hamilcar_, Mr. Scotti. Mr. Mancinelli conducted. The exquisitely painted scenes were copies of the Paris models, and the costumes were gorgeous. Miss Bréval's radiant Semitic beauty shone in the title rôle. Flaubert's novel was made into a libretto by Camille du Locle. History supplied the background for romance in the shape of the suppression of a mutiny among the mercenaries of the Carthaginians in the first Punic war. Against this is outlined in bold relief the story of the rape of the sacred veil of Tanit by the leader of the revolting mercenaries, his love for _Salammbô_, daughter of the Carthaginian general; her recovery of the veil, bringing in its train disaster to her lover and death to both.
PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE
Opera in five acts (12 scenes). Music by Debussy; text by Maurice Maeterlinck. Produced: Paris, April 30, 1902. New York, February 19, 1908.
CHARACTERS
ARKEL, King of Allemonde _Bass_ GENOVEVA, mother of Pelléas and Golo _Alto_ PELLÉAS } King Arkel's { _Tenor_ GOLO } grandsons { _Baritone_ MÉLISANDE _Soprano_ LITTLE YNIOLD, Golo's son by first marriage _A child's voice_ A PHYSICIAN _Bass_